WEBFEEDS, MANAGER and AGENT 3.X Frequently Asked Questions
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AP WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT 3.X Frequently Asked Questions Back to questions WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT General What is WebFeeds? What is WebFeeds Manager? Should I use WebFeeds alone or with WFM? What do I need to capture feeds if I do not use WFM? What is the minimum recommended bandwidth? What are entitlements? Can I consolidate delivery channels as a result of this system? What user name and password can I use to connect to the WebFeeds server? Why am I only seeing three days’ worth of content? Feeds and Metadata What markup language is used in WebFeeds? What is the AP ATOM format? What is NITF? What version of NITF is used in WebFeeds? What is the difference between the AP ATOM feed and the NITF document? Does the NITF document contain any AP metadata tags (for example, dateline and byline)? I have an old production system that doesn’t understand XML or ATOM. What do I do? What is the hNews format? What are AP Top Headlines? Do you provide possible values of the classification metadata elements? ‘Duplicates’ and Vital Tags What metadata tags are vital for parsing the AP ATOM feed? Why do I get ‘duplicate’ stories? How can I filter out duplicate stories from multiple products in separate feeds? Content Files Which media types are supported in WebFeeds? What is a content file? How are content files referenced in an AP ATOM feed? Why are the links to content files from the feed not working anymore? In what formats are content files available? What are suggested media? Where can I find metadata for suggested photos and other media? WEBFEEDS ONLY Does WebFeeds support Business-to-Consumer (B2C) syndication? I am writing my own client code to download a feed. What kind of authentication should I use? Are there any client implementation requirements? Where do I get my list of entitlements? January 25, 2019 Page 1 of 21 AP WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT 3.x FAQ Can I use package IDs to request a feed? What syntax and parameters do I use to request a feed? I am creating a feed and receiving a message that authentication failed. What does this mean? Why is the number of items that I get in the returned feed different from the maxItems value? How can I make sure that I am getting only new content with each feed request? I am interested in specific video renditions. How can I ensure that I receive them? Why am I not getting suggested photos in the ATOM syndication feed (format=6)? WEBFEEDS MANAGER AND AGENT ONLY What are the system requirements for WebFeeds Manager? Are there any special requirements for Serial Port Integration? Is Power PC supported? How do I get WebFeeds Agent? What are the minimal settings that I must configure to start downloading content? Can I change my password? How do I filter out duplicate content using WebFeeds Agent? How can I post-process individual content files that are downloaded by the agent? Can I use multiple instances of WebFeeds Agent? What are the naming conventions for files downloaded by the agent? What are the SFF files that the agent downloads? Why can’t I open, move, copy, rename or delete some of my content files in Windows Explorer? The agent stops running on a remote server when I close the terminal window. What can I do? How can I run the agent using a proxy server? TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION How do I contact AP Customer Support? How can I comment on the documentation? WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT General What is WebFeeds? AP WebFeeds is part of the new generation of AP’s content distribution platform, which provides your organization with greater control over when and what content is received from AP. WebFeeds delivers the last three days’ worth of news content to your organization via an HTTP feed for easy integration with your service or application. Back to questions What is WebFeeds Manager? AP WebFeeds Manager (WFM) automatically downloads news content available through WebFeeds. You can download content for your entitlements, including AP products and packages to which your organization is entitled and/or saved searches created in AP Exchange. Content files and metadata are saved to specified folders watched by your content management system (CMS). You can also post-process content using custom scripts; for example, to alert your CMS that new content has arrived. In addition, serial port integration allows you to send ANPA and/or IPTC files to your front-end system or CMS using RS-232 serial transfer. January 25, 2019 Page 2 of 21 AP WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT 3.x FAQ The WebFeeds Manager components are: − WFM configuration portal. A Web-based application for managing configuration profiles, linking profiles to agents and monitoring ingestion progress. A configuration profile specifies the settings for downloading content, such as entitlements for which you wish to download content and other configuration options; for example, file saving settings and logging preferences. − WebFeeds Agent (WFA). A Java application that downloads content using the settings from the linked configuration profile. It is also used for starting and stopping downloads and viewing status and log messages. Back to questions Should I use WebFeeds alone or with WFM? WFM is an out-of-the-box product that offers a wide variety of configuration options to meet your needs and allows you to start downloading content right away. Using WebFeeds directly is recommended if you are looking for tighter integration with your own CMS and/or content ingestion system; however, this requires software development resources to implement a solution for capturing and processing a feed. Back to questions What do I need to capture feeds if I do not use WFM? Capturing and processing a feed involves making the feed request, retrieving the feed items and saving them along with any suggested media to your file system, database or CMS/production system. You must write a program that makes Web requests to the WebFeeds server and processes the returned XML responses. Successful programs can be written in almost any language that is capable of making Web requests, such as Perl, PHP, Python, Java or any Microsoft .Net language. The program must use basic Web requests and responses and must be capable of parsing XML. For more information, refer to the AP WebFeeds Developer’s Guide. Back to questions What is the minimum recommended bandwidth? The minimum recommended bandwidth is 2 Mbps for feeds with text and photos and 512 Kbps for feeds with text only. Back to questions What are entitlements? Entitlements are AP products and packages to which your organization is entitled and saved searches created in AP Exchange. A product is a standard AP news service or report, which is defined by a name, a product ID number and a description; for example, “AP Online National News.” A package is a bundle of products. A saved search is a search set up in the AP Exchange website that can be converted into a WebFeed, very similar to a personalized news wire. Back to questions Can I consolidate delivery channels as a result of this system? Yes, all of the AP products to which you are entitled are available via WebFeeds or WFM. Delivery of stories in ANPA and IPTC 7901 formats is also supported. Back to questions What user name and password can I use to connect to the WebFeeds server? Your WebFeeds user name and password, which you can also use in WFM, are provided in the Welcome Letter. AP Exchange and AP Images users may use their respective user names and passwords to get authenticated by the WebFeeds system. If you plan to download content from AP Exchange saved searches, use the user name and password of the Site Administrator account to access all saved searches for your organization. AP Exchange users who do not have Site Administrator privileges can receive feeds only for the saved searches that they created or copied from their organization’s shared searches. Back to questions January 25, 2019 Page 3 of 21 AP WEBFEEDS, MANAGER AND AGENT 3.x FAQ Why am I only seeing three days’ worth of content? WebFeeds provides access to the content from the last three days only. This is a big increase over satellite, which offers no ability to go back in time to retrieve content. Back to questions Feeds and Metadata What markup language is used in WebFeeds? The content is supplied as XML—the feeds are available in the AP ATOM format, and stories are provided in the NITF format. Optionally, you can get stories in ANPA, IPTC 7901 or hNews formats. Back to questions What is the AP ATOM format? AP ATOM is the ATOM 1.0 format with additional proprietary metadata inserted by AP and embedded links to news stories, photos, graphics, audio and video files. The AP ATOM feed may also include external links to the AP Online Video Network (OVN) and third-party websites. Back to questions What is NITF? NITF (News Industry Text Format) is an XML-compliant markup language for news copy, press releases, wire services, newspapers, broadcasters and Web-based news organizations. Back to questions What version of NITF is used in WebFeeds? NITF version 3.4. Back to questions What is the difference between the AP ATOM feed and the NITF document? The AP ATOM feed is a list of content items (such as stories, photos, graphics, audio and video) that contains references to the actual content files (in the form of a URL string) and AP proprietary metadata, such as news management information and content metadata tags.